Lifshitz entanglement entropy from holographic cMERA

Abstract

Abstract We study entanglement entropy in free Lifshitz scalar field theories holographically by employing the metrics proposed by Nozaki, Ryu and Takayanagi in [1] obtained from a continuous multi-scale entanglement renormalisation ansatz (cMERA). In these geometries we compute the minimal surface areas governing the entanglement entropy as functions of the dynamical exponent z and we exhibit a transition from an area law to a volume law analytically in the limit of large z. We move on to explore the effects of a massive deformation, obtaining results for any z in arbitrary dimension. We then trigger a renormalisation group flow between a Lifshitz theory and a conformal theory and observe a monotonic decrease in entanglement entropy along this flow. We focus on strip regions but also consider a disc in the undeformed theory.